top fuel facts

[hdpusher]

Top Fuel Rules we al know that... but did you know.
TOP FUEL DRAGSTER FACTS
1. One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500. They have over half again as much horsepower in one cylinder as a Dodge Viper has in all ten. No one has ever successfully run one long enough on a dyno to get a horsepower reading. Current estimates are right around 6,000 horsepower.
2. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
3. A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster supercharger. The fuel pump alone requires more horsepower to turn than the average street car produces.
4. With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
5. The 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane produces a flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, disassociated from atmospheric water vapour by the searing exhaust gases.
6. Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
7. Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After the run, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by running the car out of fuel. There is no way to cut off the fuel; the engine stops only when it blows or the tank runs dry.
8. If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
9. In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's. To put this in perspective; a top fuel dragster, parked next to a Super Hornet on the steam catapult on the deck of an aircraft carrier, would be in the water and sinking before the Super Hornet was halfway down the deck.
10. Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.
Top Fuel Engines only turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. They only survive about 80% of the time.
11. Redline at 9500 rpm.
12. Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second.
13.The engine is entirely rebuilt every run, or every 900 revolutions. New pistons and rings, new rods, new rod bearings. Sometimes a new crank. The crew does this in about two hours between rounds.
14.The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile. The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run.
15. Putting all of this into perspective: You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him. Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course
16. If Im wrong let me know.

[Florian]

Weird stuff

[ForingaMex]

That is absolutely mind-blowing. Cool!

[Florian]

I wonder how such an immense effort pays off? Is top fuel racing in the US so popular that they get enough money from advertisement? Over here in Europe only a hand full of car guys know that drag racing exists..normal people know about the Formula 1 but that´s it..

[1982 flareside]

13.The engine is entirely rebuilt every run, or every 900 revolutions. New pistons and rings, new rods, new rod bearings. Sometimes a new crank. The crew does this in about two hours between rounds.

That will get expensive quick.

[Tim P.]

Glad my truck cant do that,, Its fast but cost effective and don't need a chute to stop

[fitzwell]

13.The engine is entirely rebuilt every run, or every 900 revolutions. New pistons and rings, new rods, new rod bearings. Sometimes a new crank. The crew does this in about two hours between rounds.

.

Not 2 hours... 75 minute rule has been around for a couple of years now. Most of the crews can get it done with time to spare

[averagef250]

"2. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced."

I call total BS on this one. I'm not familiar with the turbines used on a 747, but I went to school for turbines far smaller than ones on a 747 and they were 21,000 horsepower a piece. If I remember right GE LM2500's burned around 125 gallons a minute at full power. Two of those buggers powered the 453 foot FFG I was on and you'd sh*t a brick if you actually got to experience a 42,000 HP twin engine full throttle acceleration to 30 KTS from a dead stop. All that considered (memory in play here) I think peak HP was around 1200 power turbine RPM for the LM2500.

[hdpusher]

"2. Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced."

I call total BS on this one. I'm not familiar with the turbines used on a 747, but I went to school for turbines far smaller than ones on a 747 and they were 21,000 horsepower a piece. If I remember right GE LM2500's burned around 125 gallons a minute at full power. Two of those buggers powered the 453 foot FFG I was on and you'd sh*t a brick if you actually got to experience a 42,000 HP twin engine full throttle acceleration to 30 KTS from a dead stop. All that considered (memory in play here) I think peak HP was around 1200 power turbine RPM for the LM2500.

Thanks for callin the BS card. I got this information and was unsure about some of the facts. Hence #16. I have some friends who are pilots and have asked them to get back to me on this one. I know the consumption rate may not be close but the horse power??? Its beleavable to me because topfuel is run on nitromethane not jetfuel (aka kerosene) and jetfuel or gasoline by volume can't produce the same horse power as nitro methane.Top fuel cars only weigh 2200 -2300 pds not as much as an airliner and can accelerate to over 300 mph in a 1000 feet. Again if Im wrong refer to #16

[hdpusher]

13.The engine is entirely rebuilt every run, or every 900 revolutions. New pistons and rings, new rods, new rod bearings. Sometimes a new crank. The crew does this in about two hours between rounds.

.

Not 2 hours... 75 minute rule has been around for a couple of years now. Most of the crews can get it done with time to spare

Took my girl and I an hour and a half for lunch today. The [censored] should have been run by a topfuel team. Thanks for the imput. PS 75 min is smokin.

[hdpusher]

I wonder how such an immense effort pays off? Is top fuel racing in the US so popular that they get enough money from advertisement? Over here in Europe only a hand full of car guys know that drag racing exists..normal people know about the Formula 1 but that´s it..

Florian I know I allready said it but Ill say it just for you. John Force put it best " The best way to win a million dollars drag racing is to spend two." That is the best quote I have ever heard about top fuel drag racing and how much it cost. It doesnt pay off.

[averagef250]

Thanks for callin the BS card. I got this information and was unsure about some of the facts. Hence #16. I have some friends who are pilots and have asked them to get back to me on this one. I know the consumption rate may not be close but the horse power??? Its beleavable to me because topfuel is run on nitromethane not jetfuel (aka kerosene) and jetfuel or gasoline by volume can't produce the same horse power as nitro methane.Top fuel cars only weigh 2200 -2300 pds not as much as an airliner and can accelerate to over 300 mph in a 1000 feet. Again if Im wrong refer to #16

I agree that the power to weight of a dragster is much better, but the HP and fuel rate comparison is way off.

[adrianspeeder]

I don't know the horsepower as it's not really a useful number for airplanes, but our P&W F117-100 high bypass turbo fans are around 42000 lb/ft of thrust at top rev, and we got a little more umpfh than the derated 747 CF6 motors used on the new C5-M. Fuel flow is around 1200 pounds per hour per motor at idle.

Adrianspeeder

[averagef250]

I don't know the horsepower as it's not really a useful number for airplanes, but our P&W F117-100 high bypass turbo fans are around 42000 lb/ft of thrust at top rev, and we got a little more umpfh than the derated 747 CF6 motors used on the new C5-M. Fuel flow is around 1200 pounds per hour per motor at idle.

Adrianspeeder

As I understand it the marine turbines I worked on are the same avaiation turbines, just with thier turbofans removed from before the compressors. The Power turbine powers a shaft out the rear of the engine instead of going to power the turbofan. So, in land/marine gas turbine apps HP is a feasible number from nearly the same engine as is used in aviation.

[bb429power]

I think there might be a way to cut the fuel. Because when they start it in the pits its only for a little bit. My friends dad runs a top alcohol dragster and I went to a couple of their events, very cool to be right next to it as it fires up. I don't know about shutting off the fuel or not though. This is very cool and I'm going to bookmark this. Thanks for posting.